Frame foe holding and stretching fabrics



(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. F. PLOS. FRAME FOR HOLDING AND 'STRETGHING FABRICS. No. 451,814.Patented May 5,1891.

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(No Model.) 2Sheets-Sheet 2. G. F. FLOS. FRAME FOR HOLDING ANDSTRETOHING FABRICS.

Patented May 5, 1891.

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UNiTnn STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

CHARLES F. FLOS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

FRAME FOR HOLDING AND STRETCHING FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,814, dated May5,-1891.

Application filed May 3,1890. Renewed March 31,1891. $erial No. 387,091.(No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. FLOS, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kingsand State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Frame forHolding and Stretching Fabrics, of which the followingis a full, clear,and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in frames for holding andstretching fabrics, and has for its object to provide a means wherebythe material to be manipulated will be securely held in proper positionby the frame without injury to the material, and without the assistanceof cement or nails.

Another object of the invention is to provide aframe of simple anddurable construction, capable of not only maintaining the fabric inproper position for manipulation, but wherein also the fabric may beconveniently subjected to such tension as to free it from all wrinkles.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of theseveral parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed outin the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar figures and letters of referenceindicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a partial front elevation of the frame, illustrating thefabric to be operated upon as held in position, and Fig. 2 is a verticalsection through Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial front elevation,wherein the fabric is illustrated as attached to the upper section ofthe frame and detached from the lower section, and Figure 4. is avertical section through Fig. 3.

In carrying out the invention, the frame consists, primarily, of anupper and a lower section A and A of like construction, the saidsections being parallel and of any desired length. Each section issubdivided into abody and a series of clamp-bars 11.

front, as shown at .12.

The bodyconsiderably thinner and narrower than the body, and are adaptedto contact with the outer face thereof, and any number of clampbars maybe used in connection with the body of each section. The clamp-bars arealso preferably rectangular in cross-section, and their inner edges maybe beveled, as shown at 13, in the opposite direction to the bevel ofthe body. The said clamp-bars, preferably at or near each end, haveasliding hinged connection with the body, which connection is effected inthe following manner: In the outer face of the body of each section ofthe frame transverse suitably-spaced recesses 14 are produced, each ofwhich is covered by a plate 15, each of said plates having a slot 16produced therein, which is of less length than the recess beneath it.Immediately over each slotted body-plate a plate 17 is attached to thecontiguous faces of the clamp-bars, and integral with each plate 17 aflat button 18 is formed, essentially in the shape of an inverted T, oneend of the horizontal member whereof is usually carried downward to forma head 19, the said member being considerably longer than the slot inthe body-plate 15. The outer edge of the head 19 is rounded off, and inthe operation of hinging the clamps to the body the end of thehorizontal member opposite to that carrying the head is first introducedinto the recess 14 immediately .beneath it, whereupon the head may becrowded down into the said recess also, and the clamps may contactthroughout their width with the outer face of the body.

The angle at which the clamps may be thrown outward from the body isregulated by an upper faceplate 20, one of which plates is secured toeach clamp-bar, and the outer ends of the face-plates are made to extendbeyond the outer ends of the clamp-bars,being given a slightly outwardinclination, as illustrated at 21 in Fig. 4e, and the inner end of theface-plate is carried beyond the beveled end of the clamp-bar, to whichit is attached, as is also shown in the same figure at 22, formingthereby a straight lip.

Upon the outer face of each body-section a wear-plate 28 is secured,which wear-plate is carried beyond the inner beveled edges of the saidbody-sections and bent upon itself to form a hook-like gutter 24. At orabout the center of each of the clamp-bars a link 25 is pivotallyattached to the upper edges of the upper clamps and to the lower edgesof the lower clamps, which links are pivotally attached to the curvedends a of the hand-levers 26, which levers at or near the centralportion of their curved ends a are pivoted upon the outer face of thebody-sections of the frame. The upper levers are adapted to be carriedin one direction for the purpose of locking the fabric between theclamp'bars and the body, and the lower levers to accomplish the samepurpose are carried in the opposite direction.

The upper section A of the,frameis adapted to be suspended from theceiling or other overhead support through the medium of links 27 or inany suitable or approved manner. To the inner face of the body of thelower section of the frame the lower extremities of two or moretension-bars 28 are pivoted, which bars are made preferably in the shapeof an angled iron, and the web of the bars near the lower end is cutaway and the flat body portion of the bars is also cut away at theirupper ends. The bars are of sunficient length to extend above the upperedge of the upper frame-section A, and in one side of the fiat bodyportion of the bar a series of inclined cavities or recesses 29 isformed. Opposite the upper end of each of the tension-bars a post 29 issecured to the outer face of the upper frame-section A, the upper endsof which posts extend beyond the upper edges of the said section and areeach provided with an aperture 30 in the said extended end, and upon theinner face of the said upper section A of the frame in the vertical pathof each of the tension-bars a pin 31 is secured, the said pins beingadapted to enter the recesses 29 in the said tensionbars.

In operation the lock-levers 26 of the upper section A are carried tothe right, for instance, whereby the clamp-bars are drawn upward uponand outward from the body 10 until the plate 20 comes in contact withthe said body, and when the body and clamp-bars are in this position thegutter 24 of the upper section is exposed. The upper side edge of thecloth or fabric 32 is placed in contact with the outer edge of thegutter and outer face of the gutter-plate 23, practically as illustratedin the lower portion of Fig. 4, and when the cloth has been placed inthis position upon the body the levers 26 are carried to the positionillustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, and the clamp-bars thereby forced down toa contact with the outer face of the body and slid downward, the lips 22of the clamp-bars entering the trough or gutter 24 of the body andbinding the edge of the fabric therein. The fabric at its lower edge isattached to the lower section in similar manner, the movement of thelevers, however, being the reverse of that described in connection withthe upper section. The direction of the movement of the upper and lowerlevers is illustrated in dot-ted lines in Fig. 3. It will be observedthat the fabric is by this means clamped to the frame in a firm andsecure manner without the assistance of glue or of nails, and that thefabric is in nowise injured by the improved operation.

4 The fabric having been placed in the frame, it is often desirable tostretch such fabric vertically in order to remove any wrinklestherefrom, and this is accomplished by passing a reduced end 33 of alever 34 through the apertures 30 in the posts 29, which levers areprovided with an aperture to receive the projecting upper web portionsof the tensionbars 23, the levers finding a fulcrum upon the uppersquared body portion of the said bars. By pressing the lever downwardthe upper section is lifted and the lower section pushed downward untilthe required tension is obtained, whereupon the pin 31 is permitted toenter the nearest notch or recess 29 in the tension-bars, as illustratedin Fig. 3. As the lower ends of the tension-bars are pivoted to thelower section of the frame when not in use in exerting tension, thetension-bars act as a support for the lower beam Aby bringing the lowerrecess 29 in contact with the pin 31, the said recess being oppositelyinclined from those above it.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. In a frame of the character described, thecombination, with a beam having a longitudinally-extending gutter orshoulder, of a clamp bar parallel with said beam and adapted at itsinner edge to press the fabric into engagement with said gutter orshoulder, a lever pivoted to the beam, and a link pivoted at one end tothe clamp-bar and at its other end pivoted eccentrically to the saidlever, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the beam having a longitudinally-extendinggutter or shoulder and transverse recesses in rear thereof, of aclamp-bar parallel with the beam, hinged thereto, and adapted at itsinner edge to press the fabric into engagement with said gutter orshoulder, and transverse buttons or catches on the under side of thesaid clamp-bar to enter the said recesses, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the parallel beams provided with longitudinallyextending clamping devices, of tension-bars secured to one beam,extending transversely across the opposite beam, and having sidenotches, and

pins or studs on the rear side of the latter beam to enter said notches,substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the parallel beams and the notched tension-barspivoted to the under side of one beam and engaging with their notches,of pins on the rear side of the other beam, and alever apertured toengagethe ICC free ends of said stretching-bars and having its fulcrumon the beam having the pins, sub

stantially as set forth.

5. The combination, with the upper and lower parallel body-beams, eachhaving lon gitudinally-extending clamping devices, apertured postsattached to the front face of the upper beam and projecting beyond theupper edge thereof, and pins or projections formed on the rear face ofthe said upper beam, of vertical tension-bars attached to the rear sideof the lower beam, notched to engage the pins or projections on thebeam, and projecting at their reduced upper ends above said upper beam,and a lever having a projection at one end to enter the apertures in theposts and having an aperture to receive the reduced upper ends of saidtension-bars, substantially as set forth.

6. In a frame of the character described, the combinatiomwith abody-beam provided with a trough-like projection at one edge, of aclamp-bar hinged to the beam and-capable of sliding thereon, providedwith a lockinglip adapted to enter the said trough-like projection ofthe beam, substantially as shown and described.

7. In a frame of the character described, the combination, with abody-beam provided with a trough-like projection at one edge, of aclamp-bar hinged to the beam and capable of sliding thereon, the saidclamp-bar being provided with a locking-lip at one edge and adapted toenter the trough-like projection of the body-beam, and a limit-plateextending at an angle from the opposite edge, substantially as and forthe purpose specified.

8. In a frame of the character described,

the combination, with a body-beam provided with a trough-like projectionat oneedge, of a clamp-bar hinged to the beam and capable of slidingthereon, the said clamp-bar being provided with a locking-lip at oneedge adapted to enter the trough-like projection of the body-beam, alimit-plate extending at an angle from the opposite edge, a shiftinglever fulcrumed upon the beam, and a link connecting the clamp-bar andthe said lever, substantially as shown and described. I

9. In a frame of the character described, the combination, with upperand lower parallel body-beams, each of said body-beams being providedwith a trough-like projection at its inner edge, clamp-bars hinged tothe said body-beams and capable of sliding thereon, the said clamp-barsbeing provided with locking-lips adapted to enter the gutter ortrough-like projections of the body-beams, and shifting levers fulcrumedupon the beams and connected with the clamp-bars, of posts attached tothe front face of the upper beam, extending upward beyond the same, andprovided with an aperture, projections formed upon the rear face of theupper beam, tensionbars attached to the inner face of the lower beam,provided with notches or recesses in one side edge, adapted to engagewith the projections upon the upper beam, and levers adapted to enterthe apertures in the posts and having abearing upon the upper ends ofthe tension bars, substantially as shown and described.

CHARLES F. FLOS.

l/Vitnesses:

WM. T. HAYWARD, O. SEnewIcK.

